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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25095817">Gentle as Every Touch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LearnedFoot/pseuds/LearnedFoot'>LearnedFoot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nebula! [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5 Times, Developing Relationship, Drabble Sequence, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, POV Nebula (Marvel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:47:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25095817</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LearnedFoot/pseuds/LearnedFoot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Rhodey touches Nebula.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nebula/James "Rhodey" Rhodes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nebula! [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835023</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Multifandom Drabble 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gentle as Every Touch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Major/gifts">Major</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I love this ship so much. I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re hurt.”</p><p>Nebula looks at her arm. Her wrist is twisted at an odd angle; she had not noticed it in the heat of battle.</p><p>“It is nothing.”</p><p>“Doesn’t look like nothing.”</p><p>Suddenly Rhodey’s hand is on her shoulder. She flinches away, escaping the unexpected touch.</p><p>“I’m <em>fine</em>.”</p><p>He considers her for a long moment before replying, “Tony wasn’t good at accepting help, either.”</p><p>She does not know what Stark has to do with this, but she does know pain, and it is clear in Rhodey’s voice. Perhaps he needs something he can fix.</p><p>Tentatively, she holds out her wrist.</p>
<hr/><p>She has many repairs to make to herself before she leaves Earth; Rhodey insists on helping with them all. She is surprised to find she does not mind. He is good with his hands, working metal and wire precisely, unafraid to pull and prod where she assures him it does not hurt, but fingertips light and gentle when they brush flesh.</p><p>She has not allowed anyone to touch her like this since Gamora, when they were young, before too many betrayals. As the day of her departure grows near, she realizes: this is what trust feels like.</p><p>She had forgotten.</p>
<hr/><p>She sees him the night before she is meant to leave. A goodbye dinner of pizza and beer: Earth delicacies he introduced her to back when she was nothing more to him than an alien oddity.</p><p>“I will miss this,” she admits.</p><p>“You’re welcome back any time.”</p><p>She likes that he does not ask her to stay; he understands she must find Gamora. But after that—</p><p>Perhaps.</p><p>When it is time for her to go, she extends her hand as she has been taught, but instead of shaking it, he laughs and pulls her into a hug.</p><p>She returns it.</p>
<hr/><p>She had not expected to see him again unless she returned to Earth, but when the Guardians call on the Avengers for help, he is on the team that answers.</p><p>“Why did you come?” she asks after the mission, as they sit together in the privacy of her bunk. He is helping her repair a shorted circuit, like Earth again.</p><p>“It’s the job.”</p><p>She drops her gaze, disappointed in a way she cannot name. “Of course.”</p><p>But then his fingers graze the underside of her chin, lifting her head.</p><p>“Also…”</p><p>His lips brush hers, gentle as every touch.</p><p>She smiles.</p>
<hr/><p>The first time he sees her naked, his eyes go wide as if in shock, but before she can cover herself he whispers, “You’re beautiful.”</p><p>She would not believe it, except she knows he does not often lie. And after the words come those careful fingers, running along the seams of her mechanical parts, across the curves of her breasts and the planes of her stomach, until he buries them in the heat between her legs.</p><p>His lips skim her ear as he rubs pleasure from places she did not know could give her pleasure. “Completely stunning.”</p><p>She believes him.</p>
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